2016-Present: NERC Independent Research Fellow / proleptic Lecturer in Ecology. University of Southampton, UK.2015-Present: Official Research Collaborator, CIBIO/InBio. University of Porto, Portugal.2015-2016: NERC Independent Research Fellow. University of Bristol, UK.2013-2015: Impact Research Fellow. University of Stirling, UK.2013: GIS Specialist. The Bat Conservation Trust, UK.

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My research sits at the interface between ecology, conservation and molecular biology. My main research aims are to examine evolutionary and ecological responses to global change, and to understand how environmental heterogeneity at different spatial and temporal scales affects geographical distributions, genetic composition and ecological interactions. I carry out multidisciplinary research, combining novel genetic and genomic tools with ecological research and spatial, ecological and mathematical modelling. My research is applied in nature, aiming to provide the evidence base for managing our environment and conserving biodiversity.

I am involved in projects across Europe, in the Middle East, Ethiopia and southern Africa.

My research programme encompasses four main areas of investigation:

1. Genomic approaches to studying species responses to climate change

Understanding the genetic basis of environmental adaptations is essential for predicting biodiversity responses to global changes. These projects use genomic datasets (ddRAD-sequencing and RNA-sequencing) and combine population genomics and ecological approaches to identify signatures of climate-driven local adaptations in wild populations of non-model organisms. Working on several bat species with different distributions and ecological requirements, I investigate genetic adaptations to warmer and drier climatic conditions and their population level consequences.

Geographic and environmental features of the landscape, such as barriers and habitat discontinuity, can structure genetic variation at the individual and population levels via their effect on dispersal and gene flow. Landscape genetics offers an interdisciplinary approach for relating spatial genetic patterns to the effects of environmental heterogeneity on the movement of organisms. I am particularly interested in:

- Landscape effects on movement across spatial scales.

- Effects of anthropogenic land cover changes and fragmentation on landscape connectivity and movement.

My research addresses the role of climate and environmental variables versus interspecific interactions in structuring patterns of distribution, diversity and activity of bats across multiple spatial scales. I use statistical approaches, ecological niche modelling and niche and range overlap analysis to integrate interspecific interactions into broad-scale distribution models and fine-scale analysis of community composition and ecological requirements.

4. Phylogeography and evolutionary history

Understanding how past climatic fluctuations during the Pleistocene affected the distribution of species and patterns of genetic variation across their ranges can help predict biodiversity responses to future changes. My research combines genetic and environmental data with spatial modelling and model-based inference of evolutionary history to determine how past climatic changes shaped the current distribution of genetic variation in species with different distributions and ecological requirements. Past responses and evidence of niche conservatism are used to predict the effects of future climate change on edge of range populations, cryptic species, widely distributed species and endemic species.

Manuel Lopes-Lima: Under the surface: combining ecological and evolutionary analysis to conserve freshwater mussels in the Iberian Peninsula. CIBIO/InBio, University of Porto, Portugal (co-supervisor).

Evie Morris: How will greening the desert affect bats and the ecosystem services they provide? Funded by SPITFIRE NERC DTP Studentship.

Joanna Riley: Ecology and distribution of sandhill dunnarts in the Great Victoria Desert, Western Australia. University of Bristol (co-supervisor).